Half-Life
by The Orion Project
Summary: When you have the power of a dragon locked inside you, life can get pretty intense. It's been five years since Henry 'Hiccup' Haddock and his motley crew of friends disappeared mysteriously from Berk, and now a member of the new generation is stepping out to find and bring them home. On his search to discover himself, he will find so much more. ((Modern AU - Rated M to be safe))
1. This is Berk

Half-Life  
Chapter 1

The ground shook as fires lit the night sky, the few remaining buildings spewing smoke into the air as two titanic creatures, their features shrouded in darkness, battled in the sky. Below, the streets embodied chaos as men and women alike battled amongst themselves. Flames spewed from their hands in torrents of flame and explosive bolts, depending on the person. Screams rang out as a blue bolt of energy smashed into the center of the street, blowing back the combatants. The streets froze in a mix of fear and surprise as a figure in dark leather armor rose from the crater, emerald eyes seeming to glow as another bolt of energy gathered in his palm.

Jared shot up in bed, heart beating against his rib cage as he struggled to catch his breath. A quick scan of the room did nothing to dispel the nightmare as he felt his stomach twisting into knots from anxiety. After a brief mental debate, he decided he wouldn't be getting any further sleep that morning, and swung his legs out of bed, despite the cracking of his bones in protest.

A few minutes later, Jared was rummaging around the kitchen for food, having traded his pajama pants for dark blue jeans, a burgundy t-shirt and a green hoodie. He stood at about 5'10 and was as thin as they come, topped with a mess of dark hair that he, against all odds, managed to make presentable each and every morning. The only bright side to the nightmare was that he'd woken up on time for the first time all month, a fact that was clearly appreciated by his mother's smile as she walked past him to go down the hall and wake his sister.

Taking out a poptart and walking to the fridge, Jared poured himself a glass of milk before settling down at the counter to eat. The kitchen and living room were both combined into a single large room, divided by the kitchen counter three-fourths of the way through it. Four fancy barstools lined the side of the counter, one of which was occupied by Jared. There were two tan leather couches on the living room side, pointed towards the thin TV against the wall.

Upon hearing his sister stumbling out from her room, accompanied by their mother, Jared quickly gulped down the rest of his drink before speedily walking into the bathroom and shutting the door. He knew if he stayed out that she'd likely realize something was wrong this morning, and he didn't have the willpower to deflect any questions this morning.

As he brushed his teeth he could faintly hear Hailee and their mother, Carol, talking through the door. Probably talking about grades and other school progress, Jared effectively tuned the pair out and began to hum a simple tune to keep himself busy. His mind wandered, trying to discern the details of the man in his dream. Already, the memory of it was beginning to fade from his memory.

By the time he'd finished cleaning his teeth and ducked past his mother out the door, all that Jared could remember of his nightmare was a man with blue fire and emerald eyes.

Oo00oO

The bus groaned as it pulled up at Berk High, the doors hissing as they opened and let out a flood of students. Berk High School was built to be sturdy, more for practicality than comfort. With a world where people possessed the powers of dragons, it had to be. Nowadays, dragons themselves were legends, but long ago the ancestors of modern man had discovered these newfound abilities and learned that there were countless species whose powers they could embody. The powers they gained depended upon which dragon their personality related closest to, and their strength depended on how precisely similar the two were from there.

In order to help guide their students into using their powers responsibly, Berk High had organized its classes by the seven dragon classes: Boulder, Sharp, Tracker, Stoker, Tidal, Strike, and Mystery Class. Everyone's first period was separated by dragon species specifically, and the other six were divided by their class, except for gym. The only time students were allowed to mingle freely with those outside their class were either in passing or at lunch.

Most people discovered their powers around the tie they began puberty, and were able to have their inner dragon species named and classified quickly. Like anything, however, there were always late bloomers such as Jared. At the age of 18, his inner dragon had yet to make itself known beyond a rapid healing factor and high tolerance for both high and low temperatures; standard powers that most everyone had. At his point in life, Jared's peers were already able to identify similarly enough with their inner dragons to manipulate fire, and some were even able to summon their wings to begin flight lessons.

Because of this, Jared was unintentionally turned into a social outcast. For the sake of his schedule, administration had tossed him into the Mystery Class. Because of this, he'd decided that apparently the office does have a sense of humor.

As he walked through the courtyard, he took note of all those already standing in their crowds. There were the Deadly Nadders; all smart, attractive, and deadly. Most jocks ended up having a Monstrous Nightmare as their inner dragon; all brawn and attitude. The only other group standing around was a large group of Gronckles. Those with a Gronckle as their inner dragon were a bit more diversified, as they were capable of being both tough and emotional. Just then the bell rang out, earning a groan from both Jared and many others as they reluctantly made their way to their first period.

Oo00oO

Being an unknown, and with the first class based on species, it meant Jared was stuck in a back room of the office for an hour. "Paperwork, love it…" He muttered sarcastically under his breath, stapling together another study packet. _This must be cruel and unusual punishment,_ Jared thought, _I've gotta put together the work I'll be given later today!_ He groaned as a passing teacher dropped another large stack of papers on the small meeting table, shaking it with its weight.

Oo00oO

 _First period may be hell, but at least this class makes up for it._ Jared thought as he read through the textbook. The class itself was technically Psychology, but to Jared, it had become ninety minutes of trying to research what his dragon form could be or why it refused to manifest itself.

"Test on Wednesday." Levi, his tablemate, whispered to him. He was going on his 18th birthday soon, and had been a late addition to the school year, having moved here from England two months into the school year. Levi's mop of hair was swept across his forehead, his hair such a pale blonde that it was often misconstrued as being white. Combined with his bright blue eyes, it led to quite a striking appearance.

Unlike Jared, Levi had already discovered his inner dragon years ago; the mysterious Flightmare. Originally, the pair had struck up a tentative friendship after being paired in class for a project, consequently being seated together. It'd only taken a week for him to become fed up with Jareds' search, and the only talking the two did now was about or for schoolwork.

Jared just nodded and hummed in acknowledgement as he continued to read through the book, scanning the text for any useful information while hoping the teacher wouldn't call on him. "…Mr. Jared, would you be kind enough to enlighten the class on the Titan Wing Theory?"

 _Fuck._

Oo00oO

"Can I borrow some lunch money?" Leo asked to everyone at their small lunch group. On one side was Hailey, Jared and Ray, with Leo and Sarah opposite them.

Most shrugged or came up with some excuse not to, knowing that he'd never get around to paying them back. "Oh c'mooooon!" Leo whined, dragging out the word as he pleaded with his friends. The youngest one there, Leo was only a freshman but had been the first of the group to become friends with Jared; the summer after Jared's ninth grade year. He had curly dark hair framing his face and a light complexion was a few freckles smattered around. Standing at about Jared's shoulder, he had a more rounded build than the others. His inner dragon was the Hotburple, whom was very similar to the Gronckle.

"Sorry man, I never carry money." Jared shrugged, taking a bite of his sandwich. He knew that Leo would be fine, it wasn't the first time he'd pulled this stunt.

"I need mine for later, sorry Leo." Hailey explained to him, sounding genuinely apologetic. Unlike the rest of them, Jared's sister seemed to be one of the few people who were still willing to lend Leo any money. Like him, Hailey was also a freshman here at Berk High. She had piercing green eyes and long blonde hair reaching down an inch past her shoulders. She was built slim with curves in just the right places, but coupled with her ability to kick the ass of the majority of the school, she'd easily secured her place as the strongest Deadly Nadder on campus.

Sarah was also attempting to search through her backpack, trying to find any money to lend the hungry freshman. Along with Hailey, she was one of the few who still would shell out money to Leo. Sarah was one of the few early bloomers, having discovered her inner dragon, a Timberjack, at the age of six when a bully had been picking on her sister. Even now, people still gossiped about it when they thought she wasn't listening. Sarah hadn't been able to control herself at that young an age, and in her urge to protect her sister, had seriously wounded the young bully. Ever since then the school system and classmates had given her a bad rep, but in all actuality, she was quite possibly the kindest person at the table.

"Sorry…" Sarah mumbled to Leo, who smiled at her in thanks for at least trying. She had coppery tan skin and long black hair that was tied in a complicated braid down her back. She'd met and began hanging out with Jared during sophomore year together. While not as skinny as Hailey, she was far from being obese or unattractive. Rather than extreme dieting like some did, Sarah went to the gym often and transformed the majority of any fats into muscle.

"Nah." Ray replied off-handedly, clearly just not wanting to shell out any cash. He had a wild mane of blonde hair that was skewed out in every direction. Along with Jared and Sarah, he was also in his senior year and had only begun hanging out with their little group that year. Ray was one of the few people who weren't a Stoker Class that had managed to earn his place on the Berk High football team; the Vikings. Instead, his inner dragon had revealed itself to be a Thunderdrum somewhere in his middle school years, he'd never been too clear on exactly when or how. Because of this, he had a large amount of muscle that when combined with his height, towering over Jared, made him seem far more aloof and unapproachable than he really was.

Leo buried his head in his hands, slumping onto the table as he let out a muffled moan. "This sucks."

"Dude, you do this at least once a week. Why not just remember to bring some cash?" Jared retorted, zipping up the remains of his sandwich and putting it into his lunchbox. He personally wasn't a fan of the school lunch.

"I forget!"

Jared just rolled his eyes in exasperation, cleaning up his trash and balling it up. "I'll be back." He said, clambering out from the lunch table past their amalgam of jumbled backpacks. He waited as Hailey stood up with her own trash in hand, before dodging and weaving his way around the crowds to the trash cans in the front of the cafeteria.

"Shit, you-know-who is coming up on your left." Hailey hissed to Jared, who gulped as anxiety gripped his chest. True to her word, on their left was a particularly unhappy looking young woman with her blonde hair tied up in an efficient ponytail, dressed in a dark leather jacket and a deep blue tank top. Her boots clacked against the tile as she stormed towards the cans, making her message clear: Stay out of my way.

Jared sped up, balling his trash up further and tossing it into the can from a few feet away before turning back towards the table while Hailee continued on to the cans.

He almost made it away.  
Almost.

"Oof!" Jared grunted as he turned and immediately ran straight into the person he had been trying so desperately to avoid.

"Watch it!" The blonde snapped as she stumbled back, brushing off the non-existent mess on her jet black jacket. "Use your eyes next time, moron." She scowled at him, before walking on past, but not without shoving Jared back with her shoulder for good measure. For someone much shorter than him, she could still pack quite a punch.

He winced at the blow, stumbling back slightly before continuing on his path back to his table. "You shouldn't let Kara treat you like that." Hailey spoke from behind him, gripping her forearm tightly. Jared turned, and between her fingers he could see deep blue spines tipped with white peeking out; the colors of her inner Deadly Nadder.

"Careful." He warned her, "I can take care of myself, you know that. Just relax…" Jared spoke soothingly, recalling the amount of trouble Hailey had caused the last time she solely gave in to her inner dragons' wishes. It had nearly started an out-of-control dragon battle across campus, and many students had been injured.

"Yeah, you can, until it comes to her." Hailey retorted with an unladylike snort, before starting to take deep breaths to calm herself down as Jared guided them back to their table. Unbeknownst to what had nearly happened, the rest had continued on with their conversation, and Leo had somehow managed to acquire some new food that he was digging into eagerly. By the time the pair sat back down, the spines had retracted and melded back into her forearm without a trace.

Oo00oO

"Shit!" Jared shouted, ducking to the floor. Above him, the wall had just gained a new scorch mark, courtesy of Adam and his gang of friends. They just laughed, patting out their flames and continuing to jog as Coach Gobber shouted from his stand for everyone to get a move on.

"C'mon lads, enough messin around. Ya got a game to win!" He yelled from his seat, shaking his prosthetic at them threateningly. Like Leo, Coach Gobber also had a Hobblegrunt for an inner dragon. For whatever reason, administration had decided to have the man with a prosthetic arm and leg teach gym. He was an older man in his early fifties, with hints of grey beginning to show in his long blonde mustache. "Get a move on, Jared!"

Groaning, Jared stood up and rejoined the rest of the class in the 'fun' game of capture the flag. The game itself was fun, sure, but when the classes Monstrous Nightmares all end up on one team and specifically target you… Anything tends to lose their enjoyment after the third fireball comes hurtling at your head.

Even as he stood, Jared could see another targeting him from the corner of his eye and groaned inwardly. _Now would be a good time to find my inner dragon!_ He waited hopefully for a moment, and when nothing happened he let out a sigh. "This'll be fun." Jared muttered under his breath, dodging another fireball before joining his teammates in chasing after a Speed Stinger who'd snuck by to steal their flag.

Oo00oO

It was the last period of the day, and Jared couldn't be happier. Luckily, his sixth period just happened to involve sitting around in front of a computer the entire ninety minutes, and the teacher had developed a habit of giving out simple busywork as of late. This gave him plenty of time to continue on the search he'd started in Psychology earlier that day with the added benefit of music to listen to.

"Oh, fuckin got 'em!" The only unfortunate part of the class were his classmates.

Jared just rolled his eyes and pushed his earbuds in tighter as he scrolled through Google. He'd just been on the verge of finding something useful after following link after link, until the trail finally led to a page that undoubtedly would lead to a virus. Because of this, his patience was now at an all-time low.

His classmates continued joking and having their own conversations in the background, drowned out by his music. Jared was holding his head up with his arm as he clicked to the second page of Google, before pausing in confusion at what he saw.

 _A missing person's ad? How does that have anything to do with finding someone's inner dragon?_ Out of sheer curiosity, Jared clicked the link and waited as the computer tried to load up the webpage as fast as it could. A few moments later and it finally finished loading up. The school wifi definitely left something to be desired.

'Henry 'Hiccup' Haddock. Age: 15, missing since November 23rd of 2010.' Below the heading and brief info was a picture of the boy, a scrawny looking kid with bright green eyes and shaggy brown hair, with a crooked smile and a smattering of light freckles across his face. Underneath the picture was a further description of where he'd been last seen and other helpful information. What intrigued Jared, was that 'Hiccup' wasn't the only one with a missing person's ad on this webpage. It contained several others; Astrid Hofferson, Scott 'Snotlout' Jorgenson, Rachel 'Ruffnut' Thorston, Tucker 'Tuffnut' Thorston, and Frank 'Fishlegs' Ingerman.

All had gone missing on the same day and all were reported to have been last seen in each other's company a few hours prior to disappearing. Scrolling further, Jared used a few witness reports to piece together the last location they had been seen at all together: Ravens Point.

"There's nothing out there, it's just a bit of forest that leads to a cliff." He muttered under his breath in confusion. From the looks of it they were all the same age, and there's no way all five of them could have discovered their inner dragon early enough to materialize their wings, much less fly on their own, at that age. Especially not without having caught the attention of the media, who had been particularly eager to cover Sarah's early gifts.

The bell rang, interrupting Jared's train of thought and sending him into a frenzy to get the laptop shut off and put away in order to leave. If he'd had just a little more time, perhaps he would've seen the link of related articles, one of which detailed an explosion of blue fire in the center of town, leaving several injured. Causes unknown to this day, but it occurred just a few hours before the missing teens had disappeared off Ravens Point.


	2. Back to School

Half-Life  
Chapter 2

The wind howled outside the office, leaves rustling in the cool October wind. Even inside the office, Jared shivered. His hoodie only helped so much when the staff insisted upon keeping the thermostat set in the low 60's.

While the front of the office was official and professional, the back rooms were less so. The walls were barren aside from a single bulletin board, and there was a small meeting table where Jared was seated. Mrs. Kain was the one technically in charge of him, but the majority of the time she was occupied taking messages for other teachers or writing passes for students. She looked to be in her mid-forties, with curly blonde hair that was quite obviously dyed.

A fact that Jared had learned early on in his schooling was that unlike students, teachers were not always very forthcoming about their inner dragon. For example, Coach Gobber didn't even hesitate to answer when a student asked about his inner dragon, but yet three months into the school year, and Jared had yet to learn what Mrs. Kain's inner dragon was.

Everyone knew that the principle, Ms. Saxon, had a Hotworm Queen as her inner dragon. It seemed somehow fitting that the one in charge of the school had an inner dragon that was naturally a leader. Despite this, it wasn't often that one would see Ms. Saxon walking about on campus. Not unless you had seriously messed up, big time. Usually she was content to sit at her desk doing the paperwork to keep the school going. Oddly enough, she'd seemed to have taken a special interest in Jared after he'd begun spending his first period in the office every morning.

"Any news today?" Ms. Saxon questioned, standing him with her hands on the back of his chair as she watched him sort papers. She was in her late twenties with bright orange hair, and hazel eyes. Unlike most gingers, she had no trace of freckles across her face. Always one to dress sharp, she had on her usual red coat and a dark burgundy blouse, along with a gray skirt and heels that could probably impale someone if she wished to.

Jared sighed, not bothering to meet her gaze as he continued on with his mind numbing work. "Nope, not a thing." It was hard enough to disappoint himself with his lack of inner dragon, much less anyone else on top of that.

She hummed thoughtfully behind him, before removing her hands from his chair and walking around so he'd have to meet her gaze. "If anything does change, make sure you let me know." Ms. Saxon said.

Their eyes met briefly before Jared lowered his gaze back to the table. "I will, ma'am."

Ms. Saxon then smiled and nodded in satisfaction, "Good, I'll let you get back to your work then." Turning on her heel, she strode back into her office confidently.

There were rumors that there'd been an unknown like Jared before, about five years ago, and that he'd somehow duped her and that was why she kept a particular eye on him now. With the way she acted towards him, it wasn't too hard for Jared to believe.

Oo00oO

"Well class, can anyone here tell me what happens once someone inner dragon reaches their shot limit?" Mr. Reid asked, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He was another of the teachers that Jared had yet to uncover what their inner dragon was. Mr. Reid taught Biology and seemed to be the most relaxed teacher in the school, coming in only jeans and a t-shirt.

A few hands shot up in the front row, but the closer you got to the back of the classroom, fewer hands were raised. "Alright, obviously nobody read the text I assigned." Mr. Reid remarked after listening to a few wrong answers. "After ones inner dragon reaches their shot limit, then they won't have any further shots until they recharge." Like Jared, Mr. Reid also had a bad habit of talking with his hands as he spoke. "The recharge time itself depends on the dragon, but the average time is about six hours."

A hand shot up, "Yes, Danny?"

"Have you ever heard of a case of someone becoming their actual dragon?" Danny questioned from the back, while a good portion of the class tried to stifle their laughter at the question.

Mr. Reid rolled his eyes at the question, gesturing for the class to calm down. "Does anyone else have a real question?" He sighed, looking around the class before turning back to Danny. "No, as we all know, it is impossible to bond so closely with your inner dragon to assume their form. The closest we can get is materializing our wings, or the Nadder's spines and other small scale items such as those."

"Now, let's get back on task class. Turn to page 256 in the textbook and answer questions one through twenty."

Oo00oO

"Dude, what if you're like a Skrill or something?" Leo pondered at their lunch table, taking a swig of his chocolate milk. Jared and Sarah were sitting across from him, eating their own lunches. "That'd be pretty fucking awesome!"

Sarah shook her head at him, "Jared, a Skrill? Yeah, right. He's too nice!" Jared made a sound of indignation at her words, muffled by the bite of sandwich in his mouth. "What? That's a good thing!"

"Eh, you're right." Leo admitted, stretching up slightly to glance over at one of the other lunch tables. "Plus the crowd sucks, it's just Kara and her new boyfriend… What's his name again?" Jared pulled a face at his words and kept silent, twisting the cap off his drink with an overly loud snap before taking a swig of it. "I know it begins with a D…"

"Dagur." Sarah supplied, much to Jared's chagrin.

"That was it!" Leo cried out, "He's that Skrill that managed to fail his senior year for the past five years!"

At that, Jared choked on his drink and roughly coughed a few times to clear his throat, waving the pair off with his hands as they tried to help. "Wait, are you telling me that my ex is dating a freaking 23 year old?!" At their lack of denial, he dropped his head into his hands. "I hate everything."

Conversation halted for a little while after that, as Leo and Sarah continued to eat while Jared bemoaned his horrible luck. The cafeteria around them supplied plenty of background noise to keep it from being awkward, and Leo waited until Sarah had stood up to throw out her trash before speaking. "So, what are you gonna do about it?" He questioned.

Jared moved his gaze from the clock above the doors back to Leo, looking very confused. "Do about what?"

"The asshole who moved in on your girl!" Leo explained in exasperation, "You still care about her, don't try denying it."

In response, Jared only shrugged, neither confirming nor denying his statement. "I've done everything I can already. Can we just drop it already?"

"Fine." The younger of the two finally relented, changing topics. "Since you didn't like our suggestions, how is your own search going?"

Jared sighed, "Absolutely fucking nowhere. The closest I came to anything new yesterday was just some missing person's article online from a few years back."

"The file on Stoick's kid?" Sarah questioned, sitting back down at their table.

"You know about it?" Leo asked, his own surprise reflected on Jared's face.

Sarah nodded with a cheeky grin. "Some of us actually pay attention to the news, you know." She continued on, "He and his friends disappeared four or five years back I think. It was sometime around when that thing exploded in town."

At their blank looks, she sighed. "The statue that was blown in half and all that blue fire that was all over town?" Getting nothing, Sarah bit back her growing aggravation with the pair and changed the topic. "Anyways, why were you looking that up?"

"I was just trying to look up things on what my inner dragon could be, you know, the usual, and that popped up. No idea why…" Jared rolled his eyes, "Not that it wasn't interesting, you know, but it wasn't exactly helpful."

"You'll figure it out eventually." Sarah assured him, her hand on his shoulder as she offered him a smile.

"Yeah, and I bet it'll be awesome and shoot lasers or something!" Leo added in excitedly from across the table.

Jared snorted, "Yeah, that'll be the day."

Oo00oO

"No, Levi, the Greek Spartans defended the Thermopylae pass using their strongest three hundred against the Persian army and their Alpha without the use of their inner dragons." Mr. Ross explained in his monotone voice. "Humanity as a whole did not discover their ability to harness their inner dragons to even a basic level, a level we all now achieve in our infant stages, until the late 1600's."

The class scribbled down notes as he spoke, often using shorthand to keep up with their teacher. Jared, rather, was glaring down at his list of known inner dragons that he'd been slowly been crossing off. He had already read through the textbook from front back several times this year, driven to it by the monotonous boredom created by Mr. Ross.

All the Tidal class dragons were already crossed off; having decided he didn't particularly enjoy the water after his Dad had tried to take him out sailing in his middle school years. Jared just preferred to have his feet on the solid ground, where his movements where under his own control and he wouldn't have to worry about being tossed around by waves or getting seasick.

He was far too nice and forgiving by nature to have any dragon from the Stoker class, and from what he'd gathered from the Strike and Mystery classes, he felt relatively confident that he fit into neither of those categories. The only dragon he'd ever seen in the Strike class was the Skrill, so Jared admitted that his opinion could be a little biased there.

As much as he tried to hope for being either in the Tracker or Sharp class, Jared had a sneaking feeling that he would end up in the Boulder class, as that's just how his luck tended to go. While Mr. Ross continued his lecture, Jared looked around the classroom and saw everyone hard at work copying notes that he'd memorized within the first month or two of school.

The classroom was arranged simply, with three rows of desks for the students facing a large white board that Mr. Ross would write important facts on, and his own larger desk in the right corner at the front of the room.

All in all, it was a bland room for a bland subject and monotonous teacher.

"So does that mean everyone back then was an unknown?" One of the students, David, asked.

Mr. Ross turned his attention towards David, "No, at that time nobody even knew about the inner dragons. The last time we had a long lasting unknown, present company excluded-" A few of the class snickered at that as Jared glared down at his paper, "-would probably have to be the Haddock boy that went missing a few years back."

"What is it with this kid all of a sudden?" Jared muttered under his breath.

Oo00oO

"Nope!" Jared shouted as he blocked a punch with his forearm, spinning past his opponent to deliver a swift elbow to their spine, knocking them forwards with a cry of pain. As they stumbled, he again spun about to face them, feeling the adrenaline, the power, rushing through him as they struggled to coordinate their next move.

They lunged forwards with a sloppy punch, which was quickly knocked aside with a sharp strike to their inner arm. Rather than prolong it, Jared decided to end it, and quickly dropped to one knee, cocking back his fist and letting it fly.

His opponent gasped out as the air left their lungs, and they hit the soft padding of the mat as they collapsed on the floor. "Never underestimate your opponent." Sensei Sifu reminded the class, as Jared bowed to his opponent, who still lay there on the mat. "The bigger man will not always be the better man."

"Sorry about that." Jared whispered to Ray, who was glaring up at him from the floor.

"You couldn't have at least tried to tone it down a little, Mr. Star Pupil?" Ray mocked angrily, ignoring the hand Jared offered him as he got back to his feet shakily. He'd only been transferred into the class last week, having put down Martial Arts as one of his low priority electives the prior year.

Jared shrugged with the barest hint of a smirk on his face. "Alright, maybe I was showing off a _little_."

Ray opened his mouth to speak but was abruptly cut off by sensei Sifu. "I want everyone in pairs of two for sparring." Their sensei appeared to be much older than his thirties, with short cropped grey hair and eyes the color of storm clouds. While not as rare as dragons like the Flightmare, sensei Sifu had a Stormcutter as his inner dragon, and he was far more in tune with his dragon than anyone else Jared had ever seen. Unlike most martial artists, he only wore a workout shirt and baggy white pants. In his dojo, he made sure that all students changed out into similar clothing.

The dojo itself was not quite as large as the gym, but had definitely far more room to it than a regular classroom. The floors had a number of large padded mats spread out for anyone sparring, and the walls on the left of the room, the front, and rear of the classroom were all mirrored to help the class practice. The right of the classroom had a number of punching bags that a few students were taking advantage of. Administration had ruled that Martial Arts was similar enough to gym that they allowed students from all dragon classes to mix in here.

As soon as Jared turned back to Ray, he was gone, having rushed across the class to find someone he would have a chance against. He stifled a laugh at the thought of a mighty Thunderdrum running from a scrawny unknown, and looked around to find his favorite sparring partner; Kyle.

Known as the strongest Whispering Death in the school, Kyle had the same cloudy eyes and pale skin of all Whispering Death's, but had an unusual mess of bright white hair that he spiked out and highlighted the tips a bright red. With his full abilities allowed, he could easily go head-to-head with Dagur or Kara. In the dojo where his use of powers were restricted, however, he was the only one who could possibly give Jared a run for his money.

"Looking for someone?" Kyle questioned with a malicious grin, startling Jared forward with a gasp.

Once he got over his surprise, Jared moved into a defensive stance with his arms up to block and knees bent, ready to launch on the offense if need be. "Yeah, this one kid I always beat down in the dojo, but it looks like he found me first." He shot back with a cocky grin, egging Kyle on.

As expected, Kyle took the bait and launched forwards with a growl. Sensei Sifu didn't even both to reprimand their classmates for stopping their own spars to watch as the two duked it out.

Jared slid aside and watched the blow fly past, retaliating with his own quick strike that was roughly knocked aside. Being forced on the defensive, he jumped back to avoid a high kick that would've likely winded him, or worse. It was always a close match when the two fought, but lately Jared had learned to read Kyle's body movements and knew how to avoid the strikes before they happened.

Kyle didn't bother with practices like that, instead devoting all his energy into a constant offensive that would tear him to shreds if he could get a hold of him. Unfortunately, while he was extremely fast, Jared was just as fast, if not faster. While his strikes were weaker than Kyle's, he knew where to hit to cause the most impact and he never missed.

Leaping forward with a jumping kick, Jared forced Kyle back and decided to switch to the offensive. He aimed his punches and kicks towards pressure points, soft spots, anything that would be effective.

Grunting in pain at the blows, and feeling his left arm begin to numb from a particularly devastating blow, Kyle encased Jared's oncoming blow with his fist. Ignoring the look of surprise, he brutally twisted his arm to the side, forcing Jared to his knee, and backhanded him to the mat with his numb arm.

Their classmates collectively winced at the savage blow.

Jared blinked back tears of pain, the entire side of his face stinging. Not willing to be beaten just yet, he rolled back and launched himself up to his feet with a glare. As he focused on his opponent, the rest of the dojo, sensei Sifu, and his classmates all seemed to blend into the background.

Without another word, he lunged forwards in a display of speed that surprised both Sifu and Kyle. Even as Kyle prepared to counter him, Jared slid down on his knees, smashing his fist against the back of Kyle's knees and toppling him as he passed. Once his knees hit the mat, Jared swung around and rushed forwards to tackle him to the ground.

Kyle's face hit the mat with a resounding clap as Jared bowled him over, rolling forwards to pop back to his feet. Spinning on point, he turned to face his sparring partner who remained on the floor, glaring viciously up at him.

"Point, Jared." Sifu announced, taking Kyle's shoulder and hauling him up to his unsteady feet. Even at this point in the year he knew how evenly matched his two students were, and the lengths they had to go to in order to claim a victory. While Sifu didn't entirely approve of how extreme their spars became, he much preferred them to happen in here rather than outside where the odds would be dramatically lopsided.

Jared grinned as he nodded, breathing heavily from his exertions. The rest of the class slowly began to turn back to their own spars now that the performance was over, although a few shot jealous looks towards both Jared and Kyle.

"If you were showing off with me, what do you call that?" Ray exclaimed, patting his friend on the shoulder with a teasing grin. When he was first transferred to the class he'd heard from classmates about the spars, but this was the first time he'd truly seen Jared and Kyle in action.

Kyle's face grew even angrier from where he sat recovering as he heard Jared's response. "That, my friend, is what I call an ass kicking."

Oo00oO

 **AngryHenry: Thanks! I realized that when I was rereading this, so I've tried to describe the settings further here in this chapter. Most classrooms seem to be the same so I just assumed most people would have a basic idea, but when we *Spoiler* leave the school setting soon *end spoiler* I'll definitely be making sure to describe the setting better.**

 **Guest: Yup, I've working on the more chapters bit ever since I finished writing the first chapter.**


	3. Inner Demons

Half-Life  
Chapter 3

The desk shuddered as Jared slammed his backpack down onto it, sitting down and beginning to staple together papers with far more force than necessary. Nobody in the office bothered to come out, unconcerned with whatever had caused this sudden anger so long as it didn't interfere with them.

As he continued sorting the latest worksheets, Jared tried his hardest to restrain the storm of emotions currently whirling around inside him. Earlier that morning he'd already had an argument with his dad over grades that were perfectly acceptable to everyone except him. At Berk High, most students made a C average whereas Jared continued to make straight A's and B's in all his classes.

It'd taken an entire bus ride to the school for him to relax again, and he made the mistake of thinking everything would be fine. Jared had been walking the school grounds with Sarah and Hailey as they did every morning before the first bell rang, but as they passed the science building, he'd heard a sound like someone gagging. Trying to be good people and thinking that someone was choking, they'd entered the classroom it was coming from but regretted that decision immediately.

It was Kara and her new boyfriend, Dagur. From what they could see, he wasn't thin but wasn't super bulky like most men at Berk either, having dark auburn hair with hints of red in it and what looked to be several tattoos. Neither seemed to notice them during that brief split-second, both evidently plenty distracted. He was facing away from them, with his pants dropped and Kara was on her knees, taking him in her mouth. The gagging noises were coming from her, and the trio ran out as quickly as they could, Jared in particular looking as though he wasn't sure to be furiously upset or sick.

All in all, Jared had resolved that today was going to be a particularly miserable one. The first offense had been forgivable, but now it just seemed as though the universe was out to get him today.

"Wait a minute… This worksheet is for what class?" He asked Mrs. Kain after he'd reading down the list of questions. They seemed familiar to him for some reason, but didn't match any of his classes or those of his friends.

She glanced back at him and the papers and turned back to her own work. "Looks like that's going to one of the Strike classes."

Making more work for his ex-girlfriend and her new guy? Jared smirked as he turned back to the sheets and began to staple them together with renewed vigor. "Maybe today won't be so mad after all." He muttered under his breath with a grin.

 **Oo00oO**

Psychology that day was interesting, much to Jared's surprise. "You see, class, over time we've discovered that there are two different types of ruling dragons with the inherent ability to lead others."

"There are the Queen Dragons, and then there are the Alpha Dragons. From what we can tell, the Queen has the ability to telepathically persuade others who are utilizing their inner dragon to do what she wishes. However, her control is not absolute and can be fought off or prevented in the first place. Who can tell me why a Queen is different from the Alpha?"

Levi didn't even bother to raise his hand as he answered the question. "The Alpha has total control over them mentally, and is impossible to fight. It is also a far rarer trait, having not been seen publically for centuries."

"Very good, Levi." Their teacher responded, nodding. "He is correct, an Alpha has mental control that cannot be fought, which is why they are so dangerous. They could force one to fight and kill their entire family without a second thought, and one wouldn't realize what they'd been forced to do until the Alpha relinquished their control."

A hand flew up in the back, and the teacher nodded for them to ask their question. "What causes either of these?"

"To this day, nobody knows what causes an Alpha or Queen Dragon to emerge. All that we do know is their unmatched strength and mental prowess. The last Alpha we've seen was Hitler from Germany, and I think we can all agree how poorly that ended."

The class quieted, sobered by how offhand their teacher managed to explain the cause of such a horrific time in history. On the other hand, he was oblivious to their response and continued to go over the differences to the two higher level dragons.

 **Oo00oO**

"So you got to make more work for them? Oh my god." Hailey laughed, listening to Jared as he explained what happened in the office that morning. Sarah, on the other hand, still seemed to be scarred by what they'd walked in on that morning.

Ray, Sarah and Leo were having their own conversation while the siblings spoke. "Seems like the universe has a sense of humor after all." Jared remarked wryly, feeling much happier than he had that morning. "Immediate payback."

"I still think you should just tell that bitch off." Hailey admitted, as her brother simply rolled his eyes.

Jared knew from past experience that starting an argument with Kara would be like throwing gasoline on a fire, and wouldn't end well for both parties involved. "And I still think that my way is working fine. We haven't fought so far and it's just gotta last the rest of the year, no biggie."

"Yeah, cause she shoves you around and you don't do shit about it." She retorted, rolling her eyes in dismissal as Jared stood to go return his tray to the front.

Once the older of the siblings was gone, Leo slid a little closer to Hailey. "He still won't stand up for himself, huh?"

"It's like he's in denial that she's going out of her way to try and piss him off now." Hailey agreed, shaking her head. "I wouldn't be surprised if he made up excuses for the way she acts with him."

Leo nodded his head towards the front of the cafeteria where Jared was dumping his food, and Hailey turned to see what he was looking at. "Uh-oh, that doesn't look any good…"

Kara and Dagur, both decked out in their leather jackets as usual, were advancing towards the unsuspecting ex with a clearly mischievous intent. This wasn't just a chance encounter like before, now they were going out of their way to start something.

"You're all seeing this too?" Ray asked the group, his conversation with Sarah forgotten as they watched the two Skrill's close the distance between themselves and Jared.

He wore a surprised look on his face as Dagur roughly forced him around to face them, but Jared's expression rapidly dissolved to a scowl as he saw exactly who it was.

Hailey and the rest of his friends gasped in surprise as they watched Dagur slam his fist into Jared's gut without warning, dropping him to his knees and gasping for breath. "Oh, fuck no!" She swore, Nadder spines bristling on her forearms and if not for Sarah's quick reflexes holding her back, would have impaled the pair where they stood.

 **Oo00oO**

"Y'know, you remind me of someone I used to know." Dagur casually mentioned offhand, as though he hadn't just floored Jared out of the blue. As he spoke, he crouched down so that he was level with him but seemed to stare through him, contemplating.

Jared's brief reprieve was cut off by a groan of pain as Dagur's mood changed and he slammed his fist against the side of his face. The force of the blow knocked his head against the metal railing for one of the lunch lines and made him see stars as he slumped against it for support. "I never did like him. That hiccup never seemed to learn his place."

Some of the students in the cafeteria were beginning to notice now, and it wouldn't be long before someone left to get an administrator to break the fight up. Glancing up, Jared could see Dagur step back, cracking his knuckles with a pleased grin as he examined his work.

"Your turn, babe."

While Dagur was easily the stronger of the two Skrills, Jared easily considered Kara the deadliest of the pair. Dagur was deranged and psychotic, but could be persuaded and relied solely on physical means to cause pain. Kara, however, knew how damaged Jared was and didn't hesitate to wield it against him like a battleaxe. "I've been looking forward to this."

She yanked him to his feet, and before he could make a noise of protest, Kara slapped him across the face with the back of her hand. "I've waited so long to do that!" She cheered, wearing a dark and satisfied smirk on her face.

Jared's cheek stung as he stumbled back, blinking back the tears that accompanied the pain. "I know you're just doing this to impress your new guy." He stared back at her defiantly as he spoke. After their breakup things had undeniably been tense between them, but she'd never outright gone after him.

"Oh no," Kara shook her head, cracking her knuckles slowly in anticipation. "You have no idea how often I've wanted to do that and more. Always just going on and on, it's like I never got a fucking second alone!" With that, she shoved Jared against the railing and delivered a swift punch to his gut.

Winded, he fell forwards slightly and Kara swung her leg, tripping him onto the floor. "Always wanting to hang out, you never seemed to get the hint, did you?" She got in his face, sneering at him. "News flash, I didn't want you."

"Sorry, did you say something? I couldn't understand you past that dick in your mouth earlier." Jared snapped. After months and months of being looked down upon and now outright beaten by someone who used to mean the world to him, Jared decided that it was enough.

Kara's face flushed in anger, "Fuck off!" She shouted, throwing her arm up towards him on instinct, palm facing him.

Jared's eyes widened in shock as a bolt of electricity traveled down her arm, flying out of her palm and striking him in the chest. His world exploded in pain, and he crumpled back onto the floor in convulsions.

He blinked, his ears ringing and vision coming in blurry shorts of black and white. Eventually Jared began to regain control of his senses, and he could hear several voices around him but they all sounded as though they were underwater.

Once his senses normalized and recovered, he felt a hand on his shoulder helping him to sit up. As he did, he could see a rush of emotions run across Kara's face, ranging from anger to horror before settling on a stony glare. Dagur had no such conflict, and cackled insanely at her side.

"Back off!" Hailey shouted from beside Jared, unleashing a flurry of spikes that forced the pair to the ground to avoid becoming pincushions. Backing her up were a furious Leo, Ray and Sarah.

Around them, the cafeteria broke out in an uproar. Trays were dropped and food left forgotten as students either evacuated the cafeteria or pulled out phones to record the fight. Fire and lightning were running rampant; Leo and Sarah were dueling with Dagur while Kara had her hands full against Hailey and Ray.

Jared winced as a stray bolt of lightning flew by him close enough to raise the hairs on the back of his neck, far too close for comfort.

While Ray had used his sonic blasts before, he didn't yet have enough control over his inner Thunderdrum to do so without risking harming his friends as well. Because of this, he was stuck fighting hand-to-hand with Kara, who in this regard, easily his better.

The only thing preventing her from mopping the floor with him, from what Jared could see, was Hailey. She jumped aside, dodging another lightning bolt and responding in kind with a quick burst of magnesium fire from her palm. As Kara reeled back, Ray ran forwards and swept her legs out from under her.

She fell with a shout, and as the pair surrounded her, Kara threw her arms out in a last ditch effort. Jared watched, horrified, as she unleashed all her remaining lightning at once into Hailey and Ray.

The sheer force of the blast threw them across the cafeteria, smacking against the wall with a sickening crack before crumpling to the floor. Jared was vaguely aware that he was screaming their names, and he gagged as he smelled the foul stench of charred flesh.

With a pained cry, Leo slid across the floor to rest next to him, sporting a black eye, cut lip, and based on the bleeding, a broken nose. Tearing his gaze away from his wounded friends, Jared looked up to see Sarah still battling Dagur.

Sarah fought beautifully, trading blow for blow with the older Skrill. He was conserving his shot limit, unlike Kara, and as he swung a fist she dropped down to a knee, allowing the blow to sweep by overhead. As she did, Sarah extended her arm out to the side and swung it towards his gut as though it were a blade.

Dagur hissed in pain and jumped back, bleeding from a shallow cut that ran from naval to hip. Timberjacks had bodies like blades, very sharp and dangerous, Jared recalled. He was about to shout a warning to Sarah as he saw the electricity crackle across Dagur, but the words died in his throat as he saw her extend her arms towards him and bathe the man in a sticky sap-like fire.

The fire itself didn't seem to wound him thanks to his inner dragon, but it still forced Dagur back and threw off his aim. Rather than blasting Sarah, his lightning bolt struck Kara, who'd started rushing back towards the fight when her boyfriend briefly had a cameo as the Human Torch.

Rather than be blown back as expected, Kara just seemed to shudder for a moment as the energy crackling around her slowly sunk into her skin and faded away. Jared felt dread pooling in his gut as she leveled a menacing grin at him, electricity crackling between her fingers.

Her attention was redirected however, as the school resource officer finally sped into the room in an attempt to break up the fight. Utilizing his inner Speed Stinger as best he could, the officer managed to deliver a paralyzing punch to both Sarah and Dagur, who froze midstride. He turned towards Kara but was slammed against the wall by a bolt of electricity. The officer dropped to the ground, unconscious.

Jared looked around in horror, seeing the charred, spike filled, electrified cafeteria. His friends lay broken and defeated around him, and as he looked back at the one responsible, he felt a sudden uncontrollable anger at his core.

Ignoring the pain, he grasped the side of a table and hauled himself to his feet. The pain lessened as his anger ignited like a wildfire, until it finally exploded as Kara turned to face him.

Kara's smug grin faltered as she saw Jared's own fierce glare, his eyes having shifted to a bright acidic green. A tremor wracked his body, and scales as black as midnight briefly covered his body before fading away in the blink of an eye. She tried to shovel down her fear, calling on her reserves of energy to gather another blast of electricity.

Jared drew first, flinging his palm out towards her and launching a sphere of sapphire flame that screamed across the cafeteria at unimaginable speeds. It detonated as it slammed into her chest, the resounding explosion seeming to shake the very foundation of the room. Kara's limp body flew across the cafeteria, slamming down onto the ground between two wrecked lunch tables.

Ever so slowly he felt himself coming back to himself, his eyes fading back to their usual brown as he panted from his exertion. Everything seemed to be numb, until Jared looked at his smoking palm and his body supplied the correct sensations, causing him to hiss in pain.

Those who were still in the cafeteria were stunned into silence, trying to process what Jared had done. Finally coming to that realization himself, Jared's eyes widened and he looked between his smoking palm and the demolished tables around where Kara had stood.

He couldn't tell if she was breathing, the wreckage from the tables blocking his view, and he felt a sudden wave of sickness rush through him. He'd wanted to stop her from treating him like shit, never to hurt or…

Jared gulped, beginning to feel light headed as his stomach twisted and turned. He whirled around as he heard others approaching from behind, once again giving into his instincts in his fear.

Another blast of sapphire flame exploded against the heavy emergency exit doors, blowing them off their hinges. With one last look back to his friends, who were appeared to be receiving aid from the school nurse and starting to regain consciousness, Jared fled out the open doors.

Nobody made a move to chase him down, although many of the students still tracked his progress with their phones until he was too far to spy with their cameras. Administrators tried to restore order, sending students back to their next class and dialing for an ambulance to come check out the more beaten of the students, specifically Hailey, Ray and Kara.

It was a miracle that Kara had even survived the blast, a miracle that could only be contributed to her being linked to her inner dragon at the time. Even then, when they dug her out from the demolished tables, her heartbeat had been feint and irregular, and the schools nurse had mentioned the possibility of a concussion along with a pair of cracked ribs and a dislocated shoulder.

Hailey and Ray on the other hand would be fine, although they later learned that they would both suffer from light concussions for a day or so. When the police came around soon after the event, asking about Jared and the powers he'd displayed, all of Jared's friends were dumbfounded to see what he'd done after they'd been taken down by Kara and Dagur.

Even weeks later, once Kara had mostly recovered from her injuries sustained at Jared's hand, not a single person in the world seemed to have any idea what sort of inner dragon he must possess to be able to deal out that devastating a blow with a single strike. At least, none did that came forward…

 **Oo00oO**

 **I meant to make this chapter longer but I figured that you'd all waited long enough. I'm definitely pretty rusty as far as writing fight scenes, but hopefully that'll change after a few more chapters. I was getting bored with the classroom scenes but if you look carefully, I've definitely set up a little foreshadowing for some upcoming chapters. As always, updates are sporadic and I'll be writing the next chapter when I can. See you next chapter, don't forget to leave a review!**

 **My Lord Doctor6735: Thanks!**


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